Tearing her eyes away from me, she walks toward the bed and gasps as soon as she gets a look at Gina. Looking over her shoulder, tears stream down her cheeks as she locks eyes with the man who brought her here.
“You didn’t tell me it was my cousin,” she cries, furiously wiping at her tears. Then she orders him to get her medical bag and demands we all leave the hotel room.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Stryker argues. “I promised her I wouldn’t leave her side.”
A sob rips past Gina’s lips and we all turn to her. She calls Stryker’s name and he assures her that she’s okay. I watch as she struggles to open her eyes, but her left eyes is swollen shut and she only manages to open her right. Spotting Celeste, a tear slides from the corner of her good eye and my chest tightens. I want to step into her line of sight. I want her to know that I’m here too and that I’m so fucking sorry this happened to her. I want her to look into my eyes and see the conviction. And more than anything, I want to tell my sister I love her.
Instead, I remain rooted in place. Celeste convinces Gina to take a shower and after she agrees to her help, we start to file out of the hotel room. The moment we hit the pavement of the parking lot, I reach for my phone and dial Joaquin. I don’t get a chance to lift the phone to my ear, though, because Stryker suddenly charges for me.
“You son of a bitch,” he growls, slamming me up against the wall.
“Jesus,” Jack hisses, ordering Cobra to pull him off me. Once we’re separated, Jack demands the truth from both of us. Stryker confesses to having a relationship with my sister and cites that didn’t realize we were related at first. I counter his confession with one of my own and admit that I recruited Stryker to help me keep her safe.
“A fine job protecting her you all did,” he seethes, pointing toward the hotel room. There is no argument there, that’s for sure, but I’m not the only one to blame. If Parrish would’ve given me the time of day and not dismiss me every time I tried to bring up Yankovich, we might’ve been able to work together and neutralize him before he fucking raped my sister—and that’s exactly what I tell him.
“Wait a minute,” Cobra interrupts. “Are we sure this was Yankovich? I mean, anyone could’ve done this—a complete stranger with no ties to either organization could’ve attacked Gina.”
“Sure,” I sneer. “And it’s a fucking coincidence that the cops just pulled the guy I had guarding her from the Hudson river.” I turn to Jack. “Yankovich has been on my radar for some time,” I reveal. “On my last visit with Uncle Vic, I brought his name up and he told me to get rid of him. I tried to tell you this at his funeral, but then your wife went into labor and I decided I was done chasing you. That part is on me, but your refusal to cooperate, that’s on you. From what we know, he’s a smart man and everyone who has underestimated him in the past has contributed to the war he just declared—including my uncle. Now, Yankovich recently made a deal with Triton containers and my underboss, Joaquin, has been planning to intercept his shipments to Russia.
Jack crosses his arms and gives me his attention.
“What’s the Russian looking to transport?” he questions.
“The guy is into bad shit—drugs, human trafficking—you name it he’s got his hand in it. You’d know this if you fucking listened to me.”
Jack’s jaw ticks and his eyes cut to Stryker.
“Find out who did your girl dirty,” he orders. “I want to be sure before we throw our balls to the wind and go to war.”
Stryker meets his gaze.
“The club will back me?”
“She’s your woman, that makes her property of the Satan’s Knights and no one fucks with what is ours,” he declares, turning his attention back to me, “Looks like you got your wish, boy. You ready to work with me?”
“If it brings justice to the people who hurt my sister, I’ll do whatever the fuck you tell me do.”
And that’s the truth.
~*~
I don’t know how much time passes—if it’s minutes or hours—before Joaquin shows up and I brief him on the situation. But as soon as I fill him in, I can see the wheels turning inside his head. He’s not raking his brain for a solution or dreaming about revenge. He’s recalling the attack on Pilar and the promise I made when he landed in New York.
“What are you going to do?” he asks.
The answer is simple—I’m going to do what I should’ve done from the start. The difference is back then I thought I was invincible. I believed I could be the change. The one man who survived the underworld and lived a full life.
But with power comes sacrifice.
I lift my eyes to his and swallow.
“I’m going to end it.”
Because with love comes death.
Chapter 31
Violet Cabrera
When things feel too good to be true, they usually are and tonight proved that much. I went from being showered with diamonds to being dumped on our doorstep without so much as a goodbye. I had it coming, though. I mean, things were just too easy for us. Not only did my brother accept our relationship, but my mother faded into the background once I officially moved into Rocco’s mansion. On top of that, I nailed a part in the Academy’s production, securing my spot on the stage and Rocco appeared to be mending things with his sister. They had ways to go but they were no longer greeting one another with insults.
Like I said, things were too easy.
We were doomed.
I didn’t realize it at first. I let myself into the house, poured myself a glass of wine and undressed. The plan was for Rocco to find me in bed when he got home, wearing nothing but the new jewels he had gifted me. But when the sun started to rise and he still wasn’t home, I knew something was wrong.
I called him.
I called my brother.
Dread filled me and I turned the television. I took solace in the fact his face wasn’t plastered on the morning news show and tried to calm down. If he had been shot it would be all over the local channels. Keeping that in mind, I did my best to go about my day. With the production coming up, I couldn’t afford to miss a single practice. I was already inundated with rehearsals and put extralong hours in at the academy. Some nights I didn’t get home until well after nine and Rocco was either still out from early in the morning or just leaving again. Thinking about it now, that was probably the first sign of things falling to the wayside of perfect. I mean, after a long day I just wanted to curl up on the sofa with my man or maybe take a long bath with him and there he was dressed to the nines, with one foot out the door. I didn’t argue, though. It’s not like he was leaving to paint the town red—not in the sense most would anyway.
I think that’s why I was so eager for last night’s date. It wasn’t about the jewelry or closing the famed store to privately shop, it was the promise of shutting out the rest of the world and just being Rocco and Violet—before the mob and the ballet.
Making my way out of the bathroom, I step into the closet we share and grab the first thing I see. Throwing it on, I pull my hair back into a bun. I’m about to head out of the bedroom when the door opens. Spinning around, my eyes connect with Rocco’s and my heart sinks at the sight of him.
He looks ragged.
Swallowing, I straighten my shoulders and cross my arms against my chest.
“Nice of you to come home,” I say, although there isn’t much bite to my tone. He roughly comes his fingers through his hair and takes a step closer. That’s when I notice his eyes are bloodshot. “Have you been drinking?” I hiss.
At the suggestion anger immediately surges through my entire being. I don’t like being blown off for business, but I will accept it. I won’t fucking tolerate him blowing me off to go get drunk. I am not that girl.
He shakes his head.
“I need you to sit down,” he says hoarsely and again, my stomach rolls with dread. He juts his chin toward the bed and I reluctantly follow his silent command, taking a seat on the foot of it. He follows and
sits beside me. We sit there for a few moments and an uncomfortable silence settles between us, then he turns to me and our eyes lock. That’s when I see it.
The pain.
The regret.
The gloom.
“I can’t do this anymore,” he rasps, pausing to swallow. For a second, I tell myself I heard him wrong. I even drag my nails across my arm, much like I did the night Pilar died, but just as I wasn’t dreaming then, I’m not now.
“What can’t you do?” I ask foolishly because no heartbreak is complete without a little self-inflicting torture.
“This. Us. I can’t do it anymore.” He tears his eyes from mine and drops his head into the palm of his hands. I stare at him blankly, waiting for him to elaborate, wondering what the hell could have happened in the last twelve hours that could’ve brought this on. And even though I hate how pathetic the next words sound, I say them anyway.
“I don’t understand.”
He peels his hands away from his face and his glossy eyes find mine.
“I love you, Violet, I swear on everything holy I love you with every fiber of my being—”
I shake my head and cut him off.
They say the tongue has no bones, but it is strong enough to break a heart, that we should be careful with our words, but I wonder if they meant the three words everyone yearns to hear.
“Don’t,” I grind out. “Do you know how long I’ve waited to hear those words come from your lips?” He doesn’t respond. “Since I’m twelve years old. I didn’t even know what love was, but I knew I wanted to experience it with you. I wanted you to be the man who loved me. I wanted you to be the man I spent my life with. You were nothing back then, just some guy in the neighborhood, my brother’s best friend, but you were everything to me. Now, all these years later, I finally get to hear you say those words, and they are laced with despair. You can’t say those words as a prelude to heartbreak, you just can’t.”
“Violet…”
“No!” I shake my head and get to my feet. “I have to get to the Academy…” My voice trails as his hand wraps around my wrist. He tugs me back to him and hisses, “Violet, listen to me!”
Fighting to hold back the tears filling my eyes, I look back at him. I take in the tortured expression marring his handsome features and my heart splinters inside my chest.
“I don’t want to do this,” he rasps. “And I spent most of the night thinking of how I would tell you, I even toyed with the idea of telling you there was someone else because that would be easier, but I can’t do that. I can’t lie to you.”
A tear slips from the corner of my eye and I quickly brush it away with my free hand.
“Is that supposed to make this better?” I ask.
“No,” he rasps, drawing in a wrangled breath. “Violet, they got to Gina.” His voice cracks with that sentence and he blinks away a tear.
There’s something to be said about a man when he finds the ability to show emotion. It’s a not a sign of weakness but rather a pillar of humility. For years he pretended as if he hated his sister, but in all actuality, he never stopped loving her and when he thought his lifestyle could endanger her, he forced his way back into her life and did his best to keep her safe.
He did the same for me.
Suddenly his anguish turns to anger, and he releases my wrist. His hands ball into tight fists and his jaw clenches.
“Some bum found her in alley, behind the dumpsters…” He pauses to gather himself and blows out a strangled breath. “They raped her, and they beat her…they fucking left for dead.”
A gasp flies out of my mouth and I quickly bring a hand to cover my mouth. Rocco stands from the bed and closes the distance between us, pulling my hand away from my face.
“They killed Johnny too,” he adds.
This time it’s a whimper that slips past my lips.
“Found his body in the river—”
“Stop,” I plead.
“No, because if I stop, you’ll continue to look at me with those doe eyes of yours and I’ll want so badly to take you in my arms and take back every word I just said. I’ll tell myself lies, make myself believe that I can take care of you. That I’m not like the ones that came before me and can have it all. The empire and the love of my life. I’ll go back to Tiffany’s and buy the ring I saw last night, get down on one knee and ask you to give up your dreams so that we can make a life together. We’ll get married and we’ll have kids—lots and lots of babies, beautiful babies. Then one day it will happen. I won’t see it coming and neither will you, but they’ll take you from me. They’ll take our kids. They’ll take everything but me. They’ll let me rot, knowing it was my choices that took your lives.”
The tears stream down my cheeks as he closes the distance between us and brings his hands to my face.
“I love you, Violet, and I’m so happy we had a chance because these last few months, have been the happiest months of my life. For the first time, I couldn’t wait to come home because I knew you were here. You allowed me to just be me and that meant everything.”
“Please…” I whisper.
“Joaquin is downstairs waiting for you,” he continues, his thumb gently tracing my lower lip. “He’s going take you back to your moms. Richie will still be on you and I’m going to add another guy until all of this dies down.”
“And then what?” I ask, wrapping my hands around his wrists. My eyes plead with his, begging him to say the words I need to hear.
“I don’t know what happens for me, but you…you my beautiful ballerina, you’re going to be a star. You’re going to be spectacular on that stage.”
I force a swallow and search his eyes, desperate to find a shred of hope, something I can latch onto, but all I find is sorrow.
“There’s nothing I can say, no begging or pleading, that will change your mind.”
“I made a promise,” he whispers. “I swore if there was even a slight chance your life could be in danger I’d let you go and I won’t go against my word. My life is toxic, Violet, and I’ve been kidding myself by thinking otherwise.” He sighs and leans forward, touching his forehead to mine. “I love you, Bug, and I don’t want to live in a world where you don’t exist. You know we believe that love is the greatest gift we can give someone, but it’s not. The ability to live a beautiful life is the best gift of all and watching you live yours will be the highlight of mine.”
He inches closer, thumbing away my tears and dips his head to touch his lips to mine. I whimper into the kiss as my fingers grip the front of his shirt and pull him flush against me. If I could freeze time, I would. I’d keep him here with me forever. There’d be no goodbye. No threat of violence. Love would conquer all. It would be enough.
His hands fall from my face and he slowly pulls his mouth from mine. I open my eyes and even though he’s standing right in front of me, I feel completely alone.
I feel empty.
Hollow.
Lifeless.
Chapter 32
Rocco Spinelli
The days that followed were brutal and I feel like a total cunt for saying that because as bad as they were for me—and they were fucking bad—I knew they were ten times worse for my sister. She was grieving the life she loved and settling into a world of shame and all I could do was watch helplessly.
It’s all any of us could really do—Stryker included.
I even reached out to Aunt Grace in hopes that she’d remind Gina of our mother. They were sisters after all and they shared a lot similarities. I believe if our mother was alive, she’d know what to do. She’d wrap Gina in her arms, hold her tight and give her hope. She’d give her strength and courage to get through this.
Eventually, Stryker decided to take Gina away for a couple of days and brought her to meet his mother. He thought a change of scenery would be good for her and I wasn’t about to argue. With Gina gone, Parrish and I got to work on getting revenge.
Yankovich was a phantom but he knew he was on our hit list. He
left a trail leading us directly to the men who attacked Gina. He was skilled manipulator and I’m guessing that’s how he stayed off Parrish’s radar for so long. The man basically uses and abuses his own people. He makes them do his dirty work and after the deeds are done he looks to dispose of them—only he doesn’t get his hands dirty himself.
He knew we would kill those men and he served them to us on a silver platter. I didn’t mind though. We’d get Yankovich with time. All he needs to do is slip once and we’ll be waiting. In the meantime, delivering justice for my sister would have to hold me over.
And trust me when I say justice was indeed served.
Me and Joaquin brought the three spineless cunts down to the docks and locked them inside a shipping container—just like the ones Yankovich used to transport innocent girls overseas. The plan was to torture them until they begged for mercy or for death and that’s exactly what happened. I stripped their clothes, the way they did with my sister and I chained them to one another, forcing them to feel as violated as they made her feel. Then I beat the fuck out of them. When Parrish arrived with Stryker to finish them off they were battered and bloody, crying like a bunch of worthless cunts.
I walked out of that shipping container covered in blood, my knuckles and bruised and an torn apart, but I welcomed the pain. I fucking relished in it.
Revenge was mine and I was just getting started.
But with retribution in the books, I was forced to face facts and I began to grieve my relationship with Violet. It’s funny how a single woman can come into a man’s life and change everything about him. How she can make him need the things he swore he didn’t want. I keep telling myself I did the right thing, but it’s hard going home to that house and not have her there.
I see her at every turn.
Inside every room.
I hear her laugh throughout the house and when I lay in that bed, I’m engulfed with the sweet scent of her perfume. I almost killed the cleaning lady when I caught her trying to change the sheets. Violet was fading from my life and I needed to keep the little I had left.
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